Save Bend's Parks & Historic Open Spaces

12/19/2024

Other states are making ground breaking climate change decisions!

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a district court ruling in the nation’s first constitutional climate change trial , affirming that the youth plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment” while revoking two Montana statutes. The 70-page ...

11/22/2024

Some press…

The Bend City Council is moving closer to proposed changes aimed at expediting affordable and market-rate housing projects on city-owned land. That's raising concern among the public.

11/21/2024

In a clear win for developers and “administrative clarity”, the city council voted 5-1* to add “Income Qualified Housing Allowed Outright” to the Public Facilities Zone, with new medium-density residential standards. We no longer have a zone that protects our parks, schools, and open spaces. It seemed for a while like they might add language to hold out private property from the designations, but in the end that was crossed out, so the unused portion of Greenwood Cemetery will almost certainly be turned into housing.

What impact this will have on our parks and open spaces, and whether this actually results in truly “affordable”
housing will remain to be seen. The city kept its ambiguous term, “Income Qualified” rather than the state defined “Affordable”, and seems hard set on raising the standards up from 60-80% Area Median Income (as a requirement to live there) to 80-130% (the Median Income in Bend is now $104k for a family of four.)

What now? Well, for those concerned about saving our parks, schools and open spaces, the answer is to get involved with the Board meetings of the Parks & Rec, the School Disctict, and to keep pressure on the City Council regarding the “Income Qualified” definitions and its own properties.

Thank you to everyone who cared, got involved, wrote in, and showed up to share concerns in this process. We had our “day in court.” The 25 year old Public Facilities Zone didn’t go down without a fight, or without witnesses to the decisions made. And now, we all get to see what happens…

* Barb Campbell voted against the Amendments. Anthony Broadman was not present.

11/20/2024

This is it - the Bend City Council votes TONIGHT on whether to add the words, "Income Qualified Housing Allowed Outright" to the Public Facilities Zone, which protects our 1,711 acres of our public parks, schools, natural areas and protected open spaces. Please attend the meeting at 7pm—just being there to observe and listen will apply pressure. You can also arrive a few minutes early and fill out a request to make a 2 minute public comment. The meeting will also be held via Zoom so you can watch and even comment from home. Here is a link to our edited Summary document with legal points you can reference in your comments: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AFKLbS31_hnJPeTWjvAt_gKCoGgf45ixUqt5NiXP3so/edit?usp=sharing

Please help save Bend's parks & historic open spaces!

Council meetings are broadcast the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Work session begins at 5 p.m. Regular meeting begins at 7 p.m.

11/20/2024

Looks like the City Council has made up their minds in advance of the meeting tomorrow…

Meanwhile, now that the city has published its agenda and rationale for tomorrow night, it is clearly trying to combine several State Statutes, leading to unintended consequences by the legislation. One such unintended consequence is shifting the benefit of the Affordable Housing legislation to higher income, and thus, more white individuals AND also shifting the use of currently zoned Public Facilities lands, which are open to all people, to (potentially) only those making 80% or higher AMI providing another shift of benefit from more brown individuals to more white individuals.

Please come to the City Council meeting tomorrow at 7pm to voice your concerns and/or send them an email!

11/15/2024

Do you want an image like this to be your first notification that housing is being built on your favorite park or open space in Bend? This COULD happen if the City Council adopts proposed changes to the Bend Development Code next Wednesday, including, "Income Qualified Housing Allowed Outright" in the Public Facilities Zone, which protects many of our parks, schools and important open spaces.

What can you do? Please read the summary doc below, write to the City Council and show up next Wednesday to ask the City Counselors to REJECT the changes that put our parks and open spaces at risk.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AFKLbS31_hnJPeTWjvAt_gKCoGgf45ixUqt5NiXP3so/edit?usp=sharing

Note - this image is for illustration purposes, showing the construction on Miller's Landing to create improved river access

11/15/2024

Come out tomorrow afternoon to start joining up with people concerned about proposed changes in Bend. When we come together we find solutions!

11/14/2024

Thank you to Clayton Franke at the Bend Bulletin for his reporting on this issue. Please read, share and show up at the City Council meeting next Wednesday November 20 to make your voice heard!

A set of proposed code changes would align Bend’s development code with state legislation allowing affordable housing outright in nonresidential areas, heightening tension between the city’s need for housing and

11/13/2024

We've learned that the November 20 City Council meeting will be our ONLY chance to convince the Councilors to modify or reject these amendments. If they are passed, they will not discuss them on December 4 - that will just be a formality. SO, please send your email/letter to [email protected] and reference PLTEXT20240523 Project Name: Legislative Bills Text Amendments for Housing and plan to attend the November 20 meeting and provide comments in person.

Please use this sheet to anchor your statements in the legal arguments. You don't have to mention every point - choose one that fits the point you wish to make. The Council Members ARE listening to our concerns, so please be respectful and clear in your statements.

Recent Changes to Bend Development Code: On October 28, 2024, the Bend Planning Commissioners unanimously approved changes to the Bend Development Plan and Comprehensive Plan.* The updates include “Income Qualified Housing Allowed Outright” within the Public Facilities (PF) Zone. The Bend Plann....

11/11/2024

Here is a map of the Bend Development Zones. Note the darker blue areas. Those are the lands in the Public Facilities Zone, in which the Bend City Council is reviewing to add the language, "Income Qualified Housing Allowed Outright" along with other changes to limit public response or appeal to future modification or development plans.

Here are the properties that comprise the majority of the 1,711 acres in this zone, just 7% of the acreage of the City of Bend:
Drake Park
Pageant Park
Hollinshead Park
Al Moody Park
Stover Park
Mt. View High School complex
Sawyer Park
Greenwood Cemetery
Pilot Butte State Park
Sylvan Park
Awbrey Butte PF
Summit Park
COCC complex
Shevlin Park (portion inside UGB)
Quail Park
Troy Field
Downtown Deschutes Library
Downtown Administrative buildings & parking lot
School Administration Building land & parking lot
Reed School
Hillside Park
Juniper Park
Pilot Butte Middle School
Kenwood School
Brooks Park
Pioneer Park
Marshall High
Columbia Park
Overturf Butte
Sunset View Park
Kingston School
Skyliners Park
Deschutes River Trail
Blakely Park
Jewell School

See for yourself. The map is interactive - you can find it at this link: https://bendoregon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=5d59637977e34efdb689c810e0b84fa6